Best… And Worst Female Super Bowl Performers Of The Last 25 Years

The Super Bowl is Sunday and MadameNoire has collected the best, worst and ugly of the most talked about portion of the broadcast (outside of commercials) — the Halftime show. Bruno Mars might be crooning the ladies Sunday night, but female artists have taken the stage by storm too. Here are 15 significant female entertainers who performed during the Super Bowl spectacle over the last 25 years.

Janet Jackson

Ms. Jackson rocked her performance with signature classics like “Rhythm Nation” and “All for You.” But of course her performance isn’t known for that. It’s known for that infamous boobie controversy that damaged her career. She’s still one of the greatest pop icon, nevertheless.

Tina Turner

She technically performed at the pregame show in 2000 at the age of 60! She still had it then, and she still got it now. We didn’t get to see those amazing legs, but we did see an amazing performance — better than the actual halftime show.

Madonna

She truly did the most during her performance. I don’t mean that in a good way. She gets a A for effort and trying hard — a little too hard. This is not up to par for the queen of pop. But it wasn’t really that bad either. Blah!

Britney Spears

Her performance was part of an ensemble performance in 2001 that included another female artist, Mary J. Blige as well. But the princess of pop held her own in a year that was about the battle of the bands — rock band Aerosmith and boy band *NSYNC. She walked that way!

Gloria Estefan

Poor Ms. Estefan. She lost so many viewers to Fox’s “In Living Color” as a rival. 1992’s “Winter Magic” was magically annoying to watch. This led to Michael Jackson being the headliner the following year — reinventing the halftime performance. Estefan came back in 1999 with Stevie Wonder. Watch both performances below — 1992’s followed by 1999’s performance.

Patti Labelle

Why would they put Ms. Patti Labelle through this? Like for real? She did her usual “spectacle” best, but this Indiana Jones/Disney-themed show was the most! I guess they thought Labelle fit the bill for doing the most — she usually does it in a good way though, Disney. My goodness.

Fergie w/ Black Eyed Peas

Is it just me or did she come in on the wrong key? Anyways, the performance was annoying and they were featured in another MadameNoire slideshow for their poor performing skills — the group as a whole, that is. At least the performance was visually appealing. I could watch it without audio.

Christina Aguilera

She did OK at performing with Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton. I think Tina Turner would’ve made a fantastic halftime headliner and that’s why she’s included in this list too. Because Turner’s new millennium performance would’ve torn down the house.

Toni Braxton

Chances are you already watched her performance in the previous slide. Like Aguilera, she did OK. Nothing spectacular. Just a slow, ballad-ry performance overall. Maybe, she could’ve brought her sensual side, but the halftime show was Disney friendly. Ugh.

Queen Latifah

There’s no clip of this her halftime performance and usually that means the performance wasn’t memorable. But Motown legends performing together had to be brilliant. I heard through the grapevine her performance of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was really good, nevertheless. Future clip, anyone? Please?!

The Judds

Is it safe to assume this wasn’t a memorable year for the halftime show? Other country greats like Tracy Tucker, Clint Black and Travis Tritt performed, but there’s no clip of this performance. That’s very telling. They performed their hit, “Love Can Build a Bridge.”

Shania Twain

She seemed to have had fun performing. That outfit was a bit much though. And there was some playback during this performance. The audience was definitely enthusiastic about her performance, if anything. We’ll leave it at that.

Gwen Stefani w/ No Doubt

No Doubt was no doubt fine, but the sound was a little off. Performing with Sting was awesome! But is it safe to say with Shania Twain as well 2003 was a weak super bowl year?

Diana Ross

This is why she’s a legend. Her halftime performance is classic Ms. Ross. She performed many of her Supreme-day hits and some solo ones as well without missing a beat in 1996. She’s the boss!

Beyonce

This list wouldn’t be complete without her. Definitely one of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time let alone one of the most epic . Do I need to say more? Oh, except for she performed with Destiny’s Child and some not-so-pleasant photos of her performance surfaced — becoming a pop culture phenomena of 2013.